20251009 DISPARAGING THE HONOUR OF GOD
09 October 2025, Thursday, 27th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | Malachi 3:13-20 |
The day that is coming will burn up the wicked
You say harsh things about me, says the Lord. You ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ You say, ‘It is useless to serve God; what is the good of keeping his commands or of walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? Now we have reached the point when we call the arrogant blessed; yes, they prosper, these evil-doers; they try God’s patience and yet go free.’ This is what those who fear the Lord used to say to one another. But the Lord took note and heard them: a book of remembrance was written in his presence recording those who fear him and take refuge in his name. On the day which I am preparing, says the Lord of Hosts, they are going to be my own special possession. I will make allowances for them as a man makes allowances for the son who obeys him. Then once again you will see the difference between an upright man and a wicked one, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him. For the day is coming now, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and the evil-doers will be like stubble. The day that is coming is going to burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, leaving them neither root nor stalk. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays.
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 1:1-4,6 |
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Ac16:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 11:5-13 |
Ask, and it will be given to you
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him”; and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you.” I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.
‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
DISPARAGING THE HONOUR OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Mal 3:13-20; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 11:5-13 ]
Yesterday, we read the Gospel text on the Lord’s Prayer. The first part of the Lord’s Prayer invites us to give honour to God. It begins with, “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.” (Lk 11:2) What does it mean to keep the name of the Father “holy” if not to uphold the integrity and faithfulness of God to us? It is a call to live our lives in accordance with the kingdom values taught by our Lord, especially in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5-7). The honour of God’s name must be protected at all times. In the Old Testament, this is mentioned in the first commandment: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Ex 20:2f)
Consequently, in today’s first reading, the Israelites disparaged the honour of God by claiming that He was neither fair nor just–that God was blind to the sins and injustices of others, allowing them to be rich and successful. They questioned the worth of following and serving God if this were the case. “It is useless to serve God; what is the good of keeping his commands or of walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? Now we have reached the point when we call the arrogant blessed; yes, they prosper, these evildoers; they try God’s patience and yet go free.” Their service to God, their worship, and their sacrifices seemed futile and unproductive.
Secondly, they began to wonder whether there were any advantages in following God, even though Malachi had just reminded them of the blessings that come from putting God at the centre of their lives: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.” (Mal 3:10-12)
Indeed, many of us also at times doubt whether it is worthwhile to be good Christians. We are like the psalmist who complained to God: “Truly God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (Ps 74:1-3) We wonder why good people suffer while evil people seem to prosper. They appear to enjoy life, even though they cheat and oppress others, while we who strive to follow the commandments of the Lord are often disadvantaged, especially in business or at work.
Why, then, do we feel that God does not care for us or is unjust, when we are His sons and daughters? This is because we often ask for the wrong things in life. We are ignorant and lack the wisdom of God to discern what is truly good for us. When Jesus, in the Gospel, tells us to ask, seek, and knock, He is urging us to discern clearly what is truly good, lest we ask for a stone instead of bread, a snake instead of a fish, or a scorpion instead of an egg–because we wrongly perceive what is good. This was the case with the people in the days of the prophet Malachi. While complaining about God’s apparent indifference and envying the rich and the wicked, they revealed themselves to be fundamentally self-centred and selfish, not God-centred. They were worshipping and serving themselves instead of serving God.
In truth, those who serve themselves will eventually destroy themselves. The psalmist came to this realization when he reflected on the fate of the wicked who became rich: “Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! They are like a dream when one awakes; on awaking you despise their phantoms.” (Ps 74:18-20) The honour of God will be vindicated, as the Lord said: “For the day is coming now, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and the evildoers will be like stubble. The day that is coming is going to burn them up, leaving them neither root nor stalk.”
Indeed, does God care? This is the question that the Scripture readings seek to address. In the Gospel, Jesus shows that God cares deeply for us. We can trust in His mercy, wisdom, and divine providence. He gives the example of a man who goes to his friend at midnight to ask for bread for an unexpected guest, as it was a duty to offer hospitality to anyone who comes to their house. Though it is inconvenient to be disturbed at such an hour, “persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.” If this is true of a reluctant friend, how much more will God, who is our loving Father, grant us what we ask? “So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.”
God not only cares, but He is even more generous than we can imagine. Jesus said, “What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” God is not content just to give us what we ask, especially for our material needs; He desires to give us the fullness of life–our spiritual needs as well. Indeed, He wants to give us nothing less than Himself–His Holy Spirit.
In giving us His Holy Spirit, we truly become His adopted sons and daughters in His Son, and therefore heirs with Christ. In St Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he wrote: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” (Gal 4:4-7) Likewise, in Romans he said: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God… you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” (Rom 8:14-17)
Truly, those who are faithful to the Lord will be His “own special possession.” As the Lord said, “I will make allowances for them as a man makes allowances for the son who obeys him. Then once again you will see the difference between an upright man and a wicked one, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays.” Those who are true to His name will be given the gift of eternal life. This is what the responsorial psalm reminds us: “Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor lingers in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders His law day and night. He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper. Not so are the wicked, not so! For they, like winnowed chaff, shall be driven away by the wind. For the Lord guards the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to doom.”
Rightly, then, we pray to God as “Our Father.” We are His adopted sons and daughters. In the final analysis, our lack of trust in God’s wisdom and divine providence arises because we have not cultivated an intimate relationship with Him as our Lord did. It is not enough to merely say, “Our Father”; we must truly relate to Him as Father and come to know His heart and mind through Jesus, who reveals the Father to us by His life, death, and resurrection.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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